Arab World Bashes UN Action against “Israel Apartheid” Report

The decision by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres to disavow an unauthorized report written by a former official with a known animus against the Jewish state for the UN charging Israel with practicing apartheid is being blasted by Israel’s opponents while American UN envoy Nikki Haley is being praised by Israel’s supporters. The UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia was forced to remove the report from its website while its chairwoman, Lebanese citizen Rima Khalaf, was forced to resign. Israeli officials compared the report to Nazi-era propaganda and demanded its removal when it was posted on the UNESCWA site last week. US UN envoy Nikki Haley praised Guterres for killing the report. Palestinian officials, though, accused Israel of again riding roughshod on the UN. Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki sought to make the point that the Secretary General killed the report because it was unauthorized and not because it was factually inaccurate.